As we experience the interregnum of the Office of St. Peter, and the opening of the Conclave set to elect its 265th successor, let us ask ourselves again if, and why God desires a new pope for his people. The theologian and Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar offers in this regards a precious and luminous contribution . . .

The internet has helped me to be more faithful and closer to many friends living all over the world. It is easy to write a few words – we can listen to each other, we can see each other. No more handwritten letters that take forever to reach their destination! No more expensive phone invoices! No more faxes difficult to send and receive.

The Pope looked visibly moved as he greeted the crowds upon his arrival in the square across from the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke, north of the Lebanese capital, for the most keenly-awaited meeting of his Apostolic Visit: the meeting with young Arab Christians and Muslims. In a context of growing tensions and anti-Occident manifestations throughout the Middle-East, this encounter was a great sign of hope for the Middle-East and beyond.

Father Pierre Ceyrac, has been devoted to India for more than 60 years on behalf of children and of the excluded of Indian society. By fighting "not for the human rights but for the right to be human", Pierre Ceyrac contributed to the evolution of Indian society. "Father Pierre," as tens of thousands of children learned to call him, died on Wednesday, May 30, at the age of 98. After 50 years in India and 12 in Cambodia, he will be remembered above all as a man of compassion.

During a ceremony held on May 4 at the Bohemian National Hall, in Manhattan, NY, Heart's Home's Compassion Award was presented to three individuals: William Mark, Marilyn Denis and Yvonne Simmons, "three individuals who have transcended the degradation and suffering which the fate of homelessness imposes ; three individuals who have become healers of others…" Their stories of redemption started the day they met a certain Ellen Baxter, the woman behind one of New York City's most unlikely and succesful charity efforts…

In a talk given at TED last February, Sherry Turkle, who is Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT, presents her last book, Alone Together or Why We Expect more from Technology and Less from Each Other. She warns us about the effect of social media on our lives and relationships with others. A relentless twittering or facebooking can lead to "a new solitude." She claims that it is time to "rediscover what the human purposes are against a 'robotic moment.' " This opens new field for compassion as technologies may increase the void in our lives through a lack of profound conversations and genuine frienships. A must see…